by phillipw | Jan 9, 2021 | CH, DE, ST
The Christian Tree Surgeon The disappearance of a man who loved The trees he killed is life contained in brief. Hiked up among the limbs he chopped and, gloved To save his hands, he felt a smallish grief In sawing through to death. He sometimes fell And suffered...
by phillipw | Jan 9, 2021 | DE, LO, MO
Vanishing Truth Each meeting is the start of parting. Who He might become or who she might become, No matter what, what finally comes through Is vacuum. Each beauty will succumb. Your newborn son will grow and go away— And he will die. Perhaps you will...
by phillipw | Jan 8, 2021 | BU, GI, SA, WI
The Ancient Evergreen Did Not Become a Buddha Hotoke to mo Narade uka uka Oi no matsu. The ancient pine-tree Not yet being wise Buddha Is idly dreaming. ~Issa An ancient redwood lived its slowest youth So long ago that nothing else recalls It. Redwood mindlessness...
by phillipw | Jan 8, 2021 | CH, FR, MA, ST
I Return in Steam Bath August to D.C. and the Divinity Student Walks me through Scrubby Mounds that Would Be Woods Natsu kodachi Hairishi hito no Ato mo nashi In the summer grove I go . . . and not a trace of Him, the man, remains ~Shiki The grove he walked me through...
by phillipw | Jan 7, 2021 | MO, MY, SA
The Known Unknown Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Izuko yori Tsubute uchikomu Natsu kodachi The summer grove; my Mind is struck by a small stone That came from somewhere. ~ Buson The green of...
